Big Ben and the Parliament House at Night, UK

Big Ben and the Parliament House at Night, UK

I have seen a lot of pictures of the UK Parliament House and the Big Ben on the net and in many of those I would find the bridge featured on the right in this picture. I had completely forgotten its existence and would wonder how did I miss it. I re-looked at my pictures and sure enough, I too had photographed it. Well, it was so wide that I quite forgot that it was here I spent quite some time standing and freezing in the cold weather yet enjoying every minute of it.

Sheldonian Theater, Oxford, UK

In fact, the last year same day I was in Oxford, roaming around the town on a Halloween night. And enjoyed every minute of that too.

Green and Serene- Langza, Spiti

Langza is a really small village in Spiti (Himachal Pradesh). You can see how green it is and how serene too. The beautiful range of Cho-CHo Khang Nilda forms the backdrop to the Langza village.

Yet More Diwali Stuff

The amount of sweets and dry fruit I ate, will for sure result in weight gain :-(

The kids (nephews) have grown so much that they have to be forced to burst a few crackers.

Diwali Decorations and crackers

More stuff to increase weight

Even the bug in the garden was colorful on the Diwali day




A small video of Diwali lights

Wish You all a Very Happy Diwali

Wish you and your loved ones a very happy Diwali

More Images from Noida around Diwali

Bright Colored Footwear at a Roadside Shop in Noida

I for one wear quite dull colors (don't ask me why) and all the clothes that look good and bright on me are gifts, particularly from my sister. So, these footwear for sure caught my eyes.

Colorful Candles for Sale at Diwali in Atta Market, Noida

A Tender Coconut Vendor's Mobile Shop in Noida

Another Shop in Atta Market, Noida, selling Decorations for Diwali

Lazy Sunday Photo- Lady with a Load, Uttrakhand

A Lady in a Village in Uttrakhand Coming Home with her Load either for Fire or Feed for Animals (Picture taken by Sesha)

Images from Noida Roads

Diwali Decorations for Sale at Roadside, Noida

Nescafe Poster at a Roadside Dhaba (Tea Stall selling Snacks too) Noida

More Diwali Decorations for Sale at Noida

York Police Band Playing at Royal Armories, Leeds, UK

York Police Band Playing at Royal Armories, Leeds, UK

I watched this performance last year (November 2007) in UK when I went to Leeds to attend a conference on tourism. I went to an academic conference after a gap of four years. I remember there was Champagne before the dinner at the Royal Armories (a fabulous place) and even though I was alone I decided to celebrate that conference with Champagne.

I also very clearly remember saying to someone that I wonder what is round the next bend, it can't always be Champagne. I really wonder what is round the next bend! I wonder how 2009 turn out to be. Remember I said I would swap the December mood with October!

Thames Walk, Oxford, UK

Thames Walk (Oxford, UK) Video, It was So Serene

This is a less than a minute duration video but I really like it. It was such a peaceful day and unlike India most of the time I could feel I was alone on this walk and yet always felt safe. The only botheration was because of my own fears. Long stretch of road, river on one side and wild open fields, what more could I ask for? Well, if I be honest I would ask for the Himalayas in the background.

Another Dance from Club Mahindra Coorg Stay

A Dance Performance at Club Mahindra, Coorg

As I said, for a while it is going to be videos. This one was a dance performance that I enjoyed.

A Small Video of the Covered Market in Oxford, UK

A Small Video of the Covered Market (Established 1754) Oxford UK

The videos that I made with my point and shoot Nikon camera have a .mov extension. Windows media player would not open it and for last 3 years I never downloaded any other player that would play it! So the few videos that I uploaded on this blog, I would guess which one it would be, then upload on Youtube and then I would watch them and if I had guessed correctly then I would embedd them on my blog! No wonder there are so few videos on this blog!

Not anymore, I downloaded quicktime and it plays the .mov extension without any sweat and now for some days you are going to see a lot of videos uploaded here.

The video quality is not really good, it is a combination of my skills and th capabilities of my point and shoot camera but then ...

So here is what I was doing one day in June 2008 in Oxford. There were so many flowers that caught my attention!

No More Tag

I tagged Steve a few days back with a long list of books and now I got tagged back. The question in front of me is-

What if you learned that you would soon be no more and you wanted to pass along all the lessons you have learned about life to a young person you care about. What would you say (or write)?

Sounds a little scary isn't it?

Whatever I am writing would be for my nephews (my niece is too little to be bothered). I think sometimes life does not make perfect sense. Heck, at some points it makes no sense at all! It is at times like these, if you could find just one reason to stay positive, that is enough.

And whether I am able to understand it or not due to some inexplicable reason life is beautiful.

That is it folks. My words doesn't sound to be full of wisdom! Please feel free to pick this tag up if you wish.

Lazy Sunday Photo- Roopkund, Uttrakhand

Trekking to Roopkund, Uttrakhand

This picture was taken by Sesha on his way to Roopkund, a trek that I had to miss because of the viral fever I got. I think I will be able to pursuade him to do a trek report again at my blog.

Naini Lake at Sunset, Nainital

Naini Lake, Nainital, Uttrakhand

I rarely indulge in nostalgia but today is one of those days ... thinking about the travel of the last year, what I was working academically on ... Maybe I will swap the December mood with October!

Timbaktu Anyone?

Image from the original article at Gonomad.com

When I saw the title 'Timbaktu: The Blue Man of Sahara' by James Michael Dorsey I must say I was intrigued. I mean how many times did it reasonably occur to you that you can actually go to Timbaktu! The places people manage to visit! I thought I will share the article here too. It makes a very interesting read.

At one point we crest an enormous dune and Mahkmoud tells me to get out and walk down in case he rolls the car. I am about to do so when I realize that would mean I am alone and on foot in the Sahara. I refuse and tell him why. He laughs, and with a loud throaty scream guns the engine sending us hurtling down a 100 foot wave of flowing sand, covering us in the process and forcing me to restart my heart.

Time and again, we "surf" the dunes and I finally learn to relax and trust his expert touch as we careen downhill at various wierd angles.

Nobel Prize for Paul Krugman

Professor Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize for Economics for 2008. I have been a huge fan of his writing at the New York Times which I have been following religiously for the last few months since the world financial markets went into a turmoil. I remember Professor Krugman arguing quite sometime back, in fact in 2005, that there is a huge housing bubble in the US market. I remember I had read it in 2005 itself and I was quite skeptical. But I remembered this piece when prices actually started tumbling down.

I was wondering a few days back that what happens if you have kind of acumen (knowlwdge, skills) to understand the economy with which Professor Krugman writes. Now I know the answer, why you may end up getting a Nobel Prize!

On his blog he has written just one line about the Economics 2008 Nobel Prize and of course they had to close comments after a while!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Sunset on Thames, Oxford, UK

Sunset on Thames, Oxford, UK, June 2008

This was the day when I walked for 4 hours and covered 11km on the Thames River Walk. And that is all I have hiked this year till date. There are tentative plans to trek in Darjeeling along with my younger nephew through YHAI. I hope we are able to pull it off.

Sesha just came back today after trekking to Roopkund (and completed it too!) and has no leaves left. So it has to be just me and my nephew in December. But I am quite tempted.

Shringi Vatika- Himachal Pradesh

Walking in Show, Sojha near Shringi Vatika, Himachal Pradesh

No, I am not visiting the place again but what do you do when you have not traveled in a long time? You write about the travels from the past. So, here is my article on Shringi Vatika at Gonomad. I have blogged about it before about this trip but never got around to putting it all in one place. Finally, I did that.

MSM (Mint) on MSM Lifting Images from Blogs in India

Mint did an article on Mainstream media lifting images from blogs and I thought it was a good one. It didn't even spare the home publication Hindustan Times-

The Hindustan Times, which is published by HT Media Ltd, has also faced similar allegations. For instance, Archana S.R., a Bangalore-based photographer, blogged last month that a Mumbai supplement of the Hindustan Times had reproduced her photo of an eco-friendly Ganesha idol, without permission.

“We would not tolerate any infringement of copyright, be it infringement on the part of our journalists or someone else infringing on (our) copyright,” says Sanjoy Narayan, recently appointed editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times. “There is a need for greater awareness all around about the sensitivity of copyrights. Digital media is relatively new in India, and sometimes people don’t realize that creative work online is also published under copyrights.”

Mint, which is also published by HT Media, has specific guidelines for its staff on both text and photos as part of its Code of Conduct, which says: “We don’t copy the work of others… We do not plagiarize, meaning that we do not take the work of others and pass it off as our own.” (The full Code is available on Mint’s website, www.livemint.com.)

Images from Bangalore around Dusshera Time

I clicked this picture in Jayanagar in Bangalore two years back. In India banana leaves are used in may festivals and I found it quite interesting that the traffic police booth was decorated with it on Ayudh Pooja. I have not seen anything like this in the North India, where I have lived for most of my life.

This second picture is clicked around Bangalore, where a festival procession got our car stranded. So I got out stretched my legs and clicked a few pictures. The colors most definitely are striking.

Just Flowers

Flowers and Only Flowers

There is so much happening around, complete turmoil in the global markets, very little travel and lots of work that is only partially getting done. So flowers without any reason.

Sea Buckthorn Drink- Spiti Magic, Spiti

Spiti Magic- Sea Buckthorn Drink

Last year when we were trekking in Spiti we were introduced to this refreshing drink called Spiti Magic. When asked what is it made of, pat came the reply- Sea-Buckthorn! Now what was that?

We were patiently explained that it is made of the same thing that Leh Berry is made of! Now that felt familiar as Leh Berry is available even in the plains.

Spiti Magic- Sea-Buckthorn Drink

When I sipped it first, I was not sure if I liked Spiti Magic, after all it had a strange taste. But gradually over the trek, I grew to like the drink. So next time you find yourself in Spiti, try it. They also make tea of Sea-Buckthorn that is also different and has a tangy taste! But I somehow prefer my tea boiled and with milk and sugar! Unless I am trekking.

Maggi Omelet in a Trek, Cooked on Wood!

One of our Group Members Cooking Omelet and Maggi on Har Ki Doon Trek, as the Canteen Owners Look and Pose for Pictures

I have to admit I am quite fond of Maggi even on an ordinary day (packaged noodles sold in India by Nestle. And as soon as you take the name of any corporation the current turmoil in the global market starts creeping in my thought process, even though Nestle is not a bank!). On treks I just love Maggi.

If you trek in the Himalayas, along the path you can find temporary canteens selling Maggi, eggs and tea (and what a pity that this year I did not manage to trek at all!) and many of us wait eagerly to come across such a canteen. With big groups like YHAI (Youth Hostel Association of India) that usually have 50 people trekking, such points get jammed. I mean 20 of us would reach together and demand Maggi or tea or some such thing.

Yet, it has always been worth the wait and food tastes so different after a long walk!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Forbidden Berries and Fall Colors Oxford, UK

A Lovely Tree in Oxford

As my last trip has been to Oxford, UK I keep thinking about it. The tree in the picture was full of red berries and this is from my October-November stay. I loved the fall colors. And I was given strict instructions not to eat the berries!

The Book Tag

Since I ran away from the last tag, I thought I would pick up a tag by Emma that I could not complete and it was months ago. And this time it is about books. The list of the books is long and I have read much less than what I would ideally like to read! But then I am going to do it even if I can tick just ten of the list of 106!

I am supposed to bold the ones that I have read, underline the ones I have read in school, italicise the ones I have started but didn't finish. I am surprised that 'The Lord of the Rings' is not included in the list. It is one of my absolute favorites.

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Catch-22
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude- Don't know why but I could never finish this one.
   
6. Wuthering Heights
7. The Silmarillion
   
8. Life of Pi: a novel
9. The Name of the Rose D
10. Don Quixote
    
11. Moby Dick
12. Ulysses
    
13. Madame Bovary
    
14. The Odyssey
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Jane Eyre
17. The Tale of Two Cities
18. The Brothers Karamazov
19. Guns, Germs and Steel - I am reading this now so I guess this could be bold.
20. War and Peace
    
21. Vanity Fair
22. The Time Traveler's Wife
    
23. The Iliad
24. Emma
25. The Blind Assasin
26. The Kite Runner
27. Mrs. Dalloway
28. Great Expectations
29. American Gods
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
31. Atlas Shrugged
32. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
33. Memoirs of a Geisha
34. Middlesex
35. Quicksilver
36. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
    
37. The Canterbury Tales
38. The Historian: A Novel
39. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
40. Love in the Time of Cholera
41. Brave New World
42. The Fountainhead
43. Foucault's Pendulum
    
44. Middlemarch
45. Frankenstein
46. The Count of Monte Cristo
47. Dracula
48. A Clockwork Orange
49. Anansi Boys
50. The Once and Future King
51. The Grapes of Wrath
52. The Poisonwood Bible
53. 1984
54. Angels and Demons
55. Inferno
56. The Satanic Verses
57. Sense and Sensibility
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray
59. Mansfield Park
60. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Loved this one
    
61. To the Lighthouse
62. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
63. Oliver Twist
64. Gulliver's Travels
    
65. Les Miserables
66. The Correction
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
68. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
69. Dune
    
70. The Prince
71. The Sound and the Fury
72. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
73. The God of Small Things
74. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
75. Cryptonomicon
76. Neverwhere
77. A Confederacy of Dunces
78. A Short History of Nearly Everything
    
79. Dubliners
80. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
    
81. Beloved
82. Slaughter House- five
    
83. The Scarlett Letter
84. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
85. The Mists of Avalon
86. Oryx and Crake
87. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
88. Cloud Atlas
89. The Confusion
90. Lolita
91. Persuasion
92. Northanger Abbey
93. The Catcher in the Rye
94. On the Road
    
95. The Hunchback of Nortre Dame
96. Freakonomics
    
97. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Enquiry into Values
98. The Aeneid
99. Watership Down
100. Gravity's Rainbow
101. The Hobbit- Another of my absolute favoriyes.
     
102. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences
103. White Teeth
     
104. Treasure Island
     
105. David Copperfield
     
106. The Three Musketeers

One person that I know and how reads a lot is Steve of Gonomad. I wonder if he will pick up this tag.

Running Scared of the Bare your Soul Tag

Emma tagged me with the 'Bare your Soul' tag questions. Hmm, I am running for cover. Here is why!

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?

6. Which is more blessed - loving someone or being loved by someone?

9. If you would like to act with someone who will it be? Your GF/BF or an actor/actresses?

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?

Hope you would not blame me for running sacred. Give me to yap about travel any day! But any souls out there who feel like doing the Bare your Soul tag, just see Emma's post.

Raid De Himalaya

Image from myHimachal

If you like to drive and better still on the mountain roads, myHimachal is blogging about Raid De Himalaya, I would go take an Avomine and go to sleep, I get such bad motion sickness on mountain roads!

Cross Posted at Blogbharti.